NewsWrap
for the week ending July 14, 2001
(As broadcast on This Way Out program #694, distributed 07-16-01)
[Written by Cindy Friedman, with thanks to Graham Underhill, Chris Ambidge,
Brian Nunes, Jason Lin, Rex Wockner, and Greg Gordon]
Anchored by Cindy Friedman and Jon Beaupré
The leak of a Salvation Army internal memo to the "Washington Post" this
week brought to the fore concerns that the Bush administration's eagerness to
fund religious groups' social services could mean taxpayer-supported
discrimination.
The memo made it appear that the Salvation Army's current million-dollar
lobbying effort for Bush's so-called Charitable Choice initiative was
conditioned on an administration promise to shield religious grantees from
state and local laws prohibiting sexual orientation employment discrimination
or requiring health benefits for employees' domestic partners.
Those local laws come into play because federal funds for social services are
generally apportioned to the states and administered by them. Although all
such laws exempt religious activities per se, compliance is generally
required for provision of government-funded social services. Three years ago
the Salvation Army gave up $3.5-million in grants from the City of San
Francisco rather than comply with its Equal Benefits Ordinance.
The White House immediately denied any quid pro quo agreement with the
Salvation Army, and quickly aborted its study of the proposed administrative
regulation the Salvation Army memo mentioned.
However, the Charitable Choice bill in the Congress, HR7, includes a
provision that would do exactly what the Salvation Army wanted. Openly gay
Massachusetts Democrat Barney Frank tried to remove that provision in the
House Judiciary Committee, but his amendment failed on a party line vote. He
says he'll introduce a similar amendment when the bill comes to a floor vote
in August.
A coalition of lesser-known U.S. religious right groups this week announced
their intention to amend the federal constitution to reserve legal marriage
exclusively for heterosexual couples. As drafted, the entire amendment would
read, "Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man
and a woman. Neither this Constitution or the constitution of any state, nor
state or federal law, shall be construed to require that marital status or
the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups."
Amending the U.S. constitution is a process that takes years. Only one
amendment has been added in the last 30 years, and only 27 since the nation's
founding. Also, regulation of marriage in the U.S. is controlled by the
individual states rather than the federal government. But the American Civil
Liberties Union warned members of Congress that enactment of the so-called
"marriage amendment" could eliminate all legal protections for non-marital
relationships, including domestic partnership laws in 8 states and over 100
cities, and could even stop local governments from deciding benefits for
their own employees.
In 1986, the Congress enacted the so-called Defense of Marriage Act denying
any federal recognition to non-heterosexual relationships. More than
two-thirds of the states have legislation to deny legal recognition to gay
and lesbian marriages another state might perform.
This week Missouri Governor Bob Holden signed one such measure into law,
replacing an earlier version struck down in the courts.
Only Vermont's "civil unions" offer the state-level benefits of marriage to
same-gender couples, but even they do not extend the more than 1,000
federal-level benefits of marriage.
In Canada, a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge has struck down the provincial
law prohibiting adoptions by unmarried couples. Justice Deborah Gass found
the restriction violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The
case was brought by a lesbian couple in Halifax who each have several chil
dren they had been barred from co-adopting. Now Nova Scotia children of
unmarried parents can register their relationships with both parents, receive
maintenance from both and inherit in the absence of a will. Three other
Canadian provinces already extend equal adoption rights to same-gender
couples.
In India, police have arrested 8 staff of two HIV/AIDS groups on charges of
running a sex club and child prostitution ring and of "propagating and
indulging in unnatural sex". The incident began when two staffers doing
outreach work in a cruisy Lucknow park were picked up in a sweep. Police
then raided the offices of the Naz Foundation International and Bharosa
Trust, shutting them down and arresting Naz' director and program director.
The groups vehemently deny the charges, but those arrested have been refused
bail. Although the AIDS organizations have worked in conjunction with
government bodies in the past, they have not yet been able to resume their
efforts.
Those arrested in the violent attack on Yugoslavia's first pride march have
gotten off easy. The march in Belgrade has been called Yugoslavia's
Stonewall. A mob reported as more than 1,000 men attacked about 30 marchers
with bottles, eggs, stones, and clubs, while bystanders cheered them on.
Seven marchers and 7 police officers were injured. Police picked up 32
alleged assailants, but only 20 were handed over to a judge. According to
one report, only 11 were sentenced, none to more than 30 days in jail.
According to another report, only four were actually punished, and that only
by being fined. This week a Belgrade newspaper published a poll finding that
more than three-fourths of Serbians believe gays and lesbians are "sick,"
with nearly half saying they would "immediately end any contact" with a
person on learning they were lesbian or gay.
In Senegal, the Interior Ministry is trying to prevent a planned gay and
lesbian gathering in Dakar. The ministry released a statement saying,
"Preventive measures were taken so that such a demonstration is not organized
on national territory." Officials warned hotels and other venues not to
support a gay and lesbian gathering because it would offend morals in the
overwhelmingly Muslim country.
Back in Europe, the big annual Pepsi Island youth music event is known as
Hungary's Woodstock, but the mayor of a district in Budapest inserted an
anti-gay clause in the city's contract for its part of the festival. The
clause says, "no homosexual education programs under any name, or programs
under any other title shall take place." The International Lesbian and Gay
Association, ILGA, claims this violates Hungary's own constitution as well as
its international agreements, and has organized an international
letter-writing protest. ILGA fears the clause will be used to exclude four
gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender and feminist groups that have been granted
free access to the festival. Those groups are considering asking PepsiCo to
withdraw its sponsorship of the event. Mayor István Tarlós wrote in a letter
to festival organizers that the exclusion was necessary for "the protection
of young visitors" while adding that, "Unfortunately I cannot ban homosexuals
from visiting the island because that would really be discrimination."
Budapest is usually considered to be the most tolerant area of Hungary.
The annual tennis tournament at Wimbledon is usually a model of British
propriety, but surprise winner Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia this week
described a line judge who made an unfavorable call as looking like a
"faggot". The remark came not in the heat of the moment but in a press
conference an hour after his ultimate victory. A number of reporters present
reportedly laughed. Most media either ignored the remark or buried it deep
in their stories. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, outraged
at the media response, noted that Ivanisevic had used the same slur earlier
this year.
Open lesbian and 6th seed Amelie Mauresmo of France was upset in the third
round at Wimbledon by little-known Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand.
The U.S. Academy of Television Arts and Sciences this week announced
nominees for its Emmy awards, the top honors for US television. NBC's
gay-led sitcom "Will & Grace" was once again the comedy leader with nods in a
dozen categories, including Best Comedy and nominations for all four of its
main characters. ABC's biography of gay icon Judy Garland topped all
miniseries and TV movies with 13 nominations. Now-defunct lesbian favorite
"Xena: Warrior Princess" was the only syndicated program to be nominated.
Openly lesbian comic Ellen DeGeneres, who will host the awards presentation
in September, was nominated for Best Special and Best Individual Performance
In A Special for her turn on HBO in "Ellen DeGeneres: The Beginning". But
Showtime's popular version of the British series "Queer As Folk" came up
empty.
And finally... Grammy-winning rocker Melissa Etheridge has been openly
lesbian for years, but only now has she released a love song specifically
directed to a woman. She told Reuters that it had been important to her to
intentionally keep her lyrics non-gender-specific because she didn't want to
"narrow" her music. But her new album "Skin" includes the song "It's Only
Me" with the lines, "I found a little angel who had fallen from the sky/ and
I took that little angel and I taught her how to fly." Etheridge said, "I'm
making a sexual reference to a woman here, and that's really the first time,
and to me, that's a big deal." Etheridge is currently very happy in her new
relationship with actress Tammy Lynn Michaels of the now-defunct sitcom
"Popular".